News in Brief

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the alliance behind current President, Joseph Kabila, left the mediation efforts by the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) between the alliance and the opposition coalition “Rassemblement”. Kabila’s mandate is set to end on December 19 and the Rassemblement already called for demonstrations should the President not step down from power.

In North Kivu, Rutshuru territory saw an incursion by Mai Mai elements in Nyanzale on Sunday, December 4. The FARDC, together with MONUSCO, were able to fend off the attack. Meanwhile in Butumbo, an alarming rise in rape incidents was reported in the area, coinciding with the appearance of new militia groups. In South Kivu, several robberies and assassinations have been reported in Bukavu. Last Thursday, December 1, five Lucha members and two others, among them also a journalist, were arrested in Bunia, Ituri province, in the context of a “Bye Bye Kabila” campaign against an extension of Kabila’s second term. In Tangayika, a Pygmy militia was accused of having set fire to 86 villages last month in Kabalo territory. A Pygmy militia allegedly also attacked several localities along Lake Tanganyika on December 4. Local sources reported several deaths. In Tshuapa, the administrator of Befale territory denounced abuse by police officers in the territory, mentioning arbitrary arrests, sexual violence and torture. Meanwhile in Kasai province, Tshikapa saw violent confrontations between security forces and militia members allegedly linked to traditional chief Kamwina Nsapu. At least 31 people were killed. Vice-governor Hubert Mbingo also announced that 14 Congolese soldiers were injured and 18 rebels were arrested.

In the Central African Republic, UPC and FPRC (both ex-Seleka) factions clashed in Balaka. La Nouvelle Centrafrique reported that violence between the two groups led to over 115 deaths and around 80 injured over the past two weeks in Bria and Balaka.

All articles and other news items referenced in this briefing come from third party media sources. Being not the author, IPIS is not responsible for the content of the news items or articles contained or referred to in this briefing.

Conflict and Security

Recent news on conflict and security related issues across the Great Lakes Region

Expressing concern over the political situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as in light of the upcoming elections the United Nations Security Council has called on all stakeholders to ensure that the polls are conducted in a free, fair, credible, inclusive and transparent environment.

Political talks mediated by the Catholic Church have suffered a major setback with the withdrawal of the president’s supporters in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For more than a month, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo, the influential body with represents the Catholic Church, has been working to avoid a crisis in the DRC. The institution, known as CENCO, has been mediating between the presidential majority, President Joseph Kabila’s political alliance, and the Rassemblement, a large coalition of opposition groups.

Welcoming the announcement of the continuation of the mediation led by the Conférence épiscopale des églises du Congo (Catholic Church – CENCO) to achieve a more inclusive consensus on the upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all political actors in the country to recommit themselves to this dialogue.

Lulingu, South Kivu, in the turbulent east of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is a region of few roads and dense forests, whose 170,000 inhabitants are regularly forced to flee at the whim of armed groups. For the past 20 years, this region of 6,500 square kilometres has been immersed in violence. When the fighting comes close, villagers take refuge in the forest. When the armed men have moved on, they return to their villages and fields to see what has been left standing, and to start rebuilding and replanting what they have lost.

At least 31 people died in clashes between ethnic militia and security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend, officials say. They say the violence in the central Kasai province was sparked by a row between an uncle and a nephew over the title of a traditional chief. Deputy Governor Hubert Mbingho N’Vula said 13 members of the security forces sent to quell the fighting were among those killed. Eighteen militiamen also died, he said.

Uganda

Several Opposition leaders were on Friday arrested moments after former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye was blocked from leaving his home ahead of a planned fundraising ceremony for Makerere university lecturers Shs28 billion allowance.

Police in Uganda are holding two Congolese nationals arrested in Kabale town over illegal entry and theft. The officer in charge of criminal investigations at Kabale police station, Mr Henry Alyanga, on Saturday identified the suspects as Olivia Balume and Elias Bahati, both aged 18 and residents of Rutshuru territory, North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Police in Kampala are investigating a case in which two people were in the wee hours of Sunday morning shot dead at the chairman Board of Sebei Elgon Cooperative Union (SECU) Maj Juma Seiko’s home in Nakasero.

Police in Mbale town on Monday fired tear gas and live bullets to disperse tax operators protesting against termination of their contract to run the taxi park by Mbale municipal council leaders. During the fracas, several taxi drivers and police officers sustained injuries.

Police in Tororo have arrested a 37-year-old woman suspected to be a human trafficker. The woman, a casual labourer and resident of Akolodongo village, Malaba Town Council in Tororo District, was arrested on Monday at her home after she allegedly trafficked two young girls to neighbouring Kenya.

At least 52 bodies of people killed in last weekend’s fighting in Kasese District have been buried. The bodies were buried on Sunday morning at Kihara army barracks, Nyamwamba Division, Kasese Municipality.

The bodies of 51 unidentified victims of fierce fighting in the Rwenzururu kingdom in Uganda’s restive Kasese region were buried in a mass ceremony on Sunday, officials said. They were among nearly 90 people killed in fighting last month between palace guardsand security forces in the western region, said Kasese district official Geoffrey Sibendire Bigogo.

In October 2011, President Obama sent 100 U.S. Army Special Forces personnel to central Africa to help the Ugandan military pursue the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its notorious leader, Joseph Kony. Five years later, although the LRA is much weaker, Kony remains at large, orchestrating attacks against civilians. The Ugandan military, which has been leading the anti-LRA effort, has announced that it will withdraw from pursuing the group by the end of the year, citing a lack of international support.

Serious fighting in the Central African Republic in late November 2016 between two Seleka groups left at least 14 civilians dead and 76 wounded, Human Rights Watch said today. Armed groups appear to have deliberately targeted five of the civilians killed during the main clashes in the central town of Bria between November 21 and 23, and nine others in the ensuing days. Three other civilians are missing and presumed dead.

Despite a peaceful and successful transition in the Central African Republic (CAR) earlier in 2016, the recent outbreak of violence there had demonstrated the extremely fragile situation in the country, the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), told the Security Council today.

Despite a peaceful and successful transition in the Central African Republic earlier in 2016, the recent outbreak of violence there had demonstrated the extremely fragile situation in the country, the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), told the Security Council today.

The United Nations announced today that it has completed an internal investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against Burundian and Gabonese peacekeepers deployed in Dekoa, Kemo prefecture, Central African Republic (CAR).

After clashes erupted lately between them in city of Bria, these two groups becoming rival, are violently confronting each other for taking over the city. In a recent communiqué released by, MINUSCA, it is said that all necessary precautions had been taken for fightings do not reach Bambari. About death toll, at this moment, it’s impossible to be specific.

A horrifying death toll as a result of the fighting since two weeks between UPC and FPRC, dissidents from the Séléka militia. 115 dead at least and around 80 injured. In addition, thousands of civilians had to flee from the battle zones between those “elephants”.

Humanitarian News

Non-comprehensive overview of humanitarian news, including IDP and refugee issues, across the Great Lakes Region

Rwanda

A Rwandan military tribunal began hearings on Thursday against a former army officer deported from Canada last month to face charges over Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Jean Claude Seyoboka is accused of genocide, planning genocide, and murder and rape as crimes against humanity.

A Ugandan rebel commander accused of organizing massacres and kidnapping thousands of children pleaded not guilty on Tuesday as his trial opened in The Hague, more than 11 years after the International Criminal Court ordered his arrest.

Speaking to the local media on Dec. 2, South Kivu’s mines minister, Apollinaire Bulindi claimed that the mining sector of the province, which is made up largely of concessions worked by small-scale miners, had been restructured and had made a lot of progress regarding authorized and clean operations in 2016.

Already shaken by the legal and media war between its shareholders (AMI 380), the Tenke Fungurume copper project is now facing an invasion of illicit diggers. Several thousands of them overran the concession in November, causing an underground pit to collapse when they were trying to extract copper and cobalt.

Rwanda

As the world marked International Mining Day on Monday, for many Rwandan miners and mineral exporters, there was little to celebrate. The sector has been hard-hit by falling metal prices on the global market driven by the scale down by leading consumer China on mineral purchases.

Uganda

Uganda and Tanzania are preparing to sign an agreement in December to build a 1,443-kilometre crude export pipeline from Hoima district in western Uganda through Bukoba in northern Tanzania to Tanga on the Indian Ocean coast.

The discovery of sub-Saharan Africa’s fourth largest oil reserve has been hailed as a panacea to Uganda’s problems. But even at peak production, it will only generate two barrels of oil per citizen per year.

hree people have been buried by a sand mine in Bihangire parish, Rutenga Sub-county, Kanungu District. Kanungu District police commander Joab Wabwire, identified the deceased as Immaculate Kenyonyozi, 33, Naboth Tayebwa, 11, and Illuminate Twikirize, 12, residents of the same area. Ms Allen Kansiime, 29, was injured and is currently admitted at Kisiizi Hospital in Rukungiri.

Experts and engineers hired by China’s Guangzhou Dongsong Energy Group Co (GDEG) to build a plant to transform phosphates into fertilizer at Sukulu are due to arrive on the site in December. The project under development lies in the Tororo area in northern Uganda.

Police in Rukungiri are holding a UPDF soldier who was found in possession of ivory. The officer in charge of criminal investigations at Rukungiri Police Station, Mr Julius Twinamastiko identified the soldiers as R/A167692 Julius Mbusa Mumbere attached to 27th battalion,Kasese District.

When President Museveni was re-elected in February 2016, he said that he would lead Uganda into a middle-income country by 2020. This ambition to reach this status requires the country to also be generating more electricity to supply the industries and small businesses that thrive in any middle-income country. In the estimation, according to the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) and going by the middle-income target in the National Development Plan II, Uganda should have at least 2,500MW by 2020. Going by the current on-going projects, by 2020, the actual installed capacity of electricity of Uganda will have expanded to 1,683 MW.

President Museveni and a team from World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), have agreed to further discussions on the prospects of lowering the cost of power generated at Bujagali dam from the current $0.113 (Shs411) per unit to at least $0.05 (Shs182).

Government has allocated part of Namanve Central Forest Reserve in Wakiso District towards the construction of infrastructure projects in the area. Gazetted in 1932, Namanve Forest Reserve (NFR) originally measuring 2170.28 hectares, was meant to serve as a catchment area for Lake Victoria.

Central African Republic

The ban on diamond exports from conflict zones is proving successful in curbing so-called ‘conflict diamonds’ from being sold into official and black markets, thereby reducing their use as a potential source of finance for rebel groups.

The report, From Conflict to Illicit: Mapping the Diamond Trade from Central African Republic to Cameroon, investigates the failure of Cameroon’s implementation of the Kimberley Process—the international diamond certification scheme meant to stop the trade of conflict diamonds. The report comes on the eve of the Kimberley Process Review Visit to Cameroon, which evaluates the country’s implementation of internal controls that govern diamond production and trade.